Elaine Wong is back with further dispatches from the slugfest between Campbell and Progresso soups. We can look forward to even more volleys over the respective MSG content of their soups in the future, predicts Lynn Dornblaser, new products expert at Mintel. She says the sniping "seems to fit in with the American zeitgeist at the moment." Oh, goody! More ads paid for; more editorial space filled!

"Nepali Maoists Organize An SMS Campaign -- It's Global Handwashing Day! " Followed by: "Communists, Cricketers, Animated Stars Turn Out To Get South Asian Kids To Lather Up." It's a blog entry by Matthew Creamer about Global Headwashing Day, whose sponsors include Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

As the Commerce Department reports that retail sales plummeted by 1.2% last month, two articles in the Times this morning look at the battlefield following the financial carnage of recent weeks and weigh the impact on sales and marketing. Under the partial headline "Gadgetry Takes A Hit," Matt Richtel and Stephanie Rosenbloom write that demand for electronic items such as televisions, computers, high-end cell phones, and cameras is slipping. They predict discounting in the months ahead. But the Consumer Electronics Association is a bit more cheerful than other analysts, as trade organizations are wont …

Avon, which has struggled to recruit sales representatives in the U.S. for years, has been fattening its incentives in these lean times. In a campaign dubbed "It Pays to Be With Avon," it's offering potential recruits and its existing sales reps such perks as gas money and direct access to financial adviser Suze Orman. It is also footing the bill for representatives to set up online storefronts, and is offering free online training. In addition, the company will cut the price it charges reps for its holiday beauty-gift bundle -- a collection of products expected to be popular with …

Where's there's action, there's always reaction -- but this fast? Looking at September auto sales data, MSNBC's Roland Jones wonders if tempting incentives from automakers and declining gas prices will drive Americans back towards SUVs and trucks. Edmunds.com, after all, reports that SUV sales held steady at their August level of 4.4% of the U.S. market, down from the all-time high but up from 3.5% in July. And large pickup trucks accounted for 14.3% of vehicle sales, the highest level of the year and up from 13.7% in August. Incentives for large trucks and SUVs hit a record …

Some analysts at an Apple press conference Tuesday questioned whether the new, faster, greener laptops that were introduced were out of touch with the times, given wide expectations of a recession. Although Apple cut the price of an entry-level model to about $1,000, it maintained its prices on other notebook models and even raised the price on one model. The new computers have rounded cases like the MacBook Air notebook introduced in January and are made using a similar manufacturing process that helps to reduce weight and internal parts while adding rigidity. Apple also has removed a …

OfficeMax is introducing four new private label brands -- Ascend, Canterbury, Divoga and Infuse -- including presentation supplies, stationery, pens and envelopes, all of which can be viewed here . Marc E. Babej, a partner at Reason, New York, says private-label brands work best when they're "anti-brands," meaning when consumers don't develop an emotional connection with the products but simply buy them because they're "almost as good or as good" as products already on store shelves, and they "cost less." Interestingly, for the most part the Office Max private-label products are priced similarly to …